“I want to inspire. If people are inspired they will work hard and well.”

Faced with one of the UN’s most challenging jobs, veteran Norwegian diplomat Erik Solheim is all smiles.

In three months he leaves his role as head of development at the OECD to take charge of the UN Environment Programme, a portfolio that ranges from protecting elephants to resource efficiency and climate change.

He replaces the German-Brazilian Achim Steiner at a critical point in UN efforts to tackle global warming, green finance flows and protect diminishing stocks of endangered flora and fauna.

Top of his list is a desire to “change the conversation” to empower and inspire local communities to protect their local environment.

“We need to work hard to set out the case, change the language. Often the UN is bureaucratic and does not speak to the hearts of people,” he tells Climate Home on the sidelines of a conference organised by French thinktank IDDRI in Paris.

He adds: “It’s very hard to protect just by policing. We need to get local populations on board.”

Adaptation gap
This week UNEP warned developing countries face costs ranging from $280 to $500 billion a year by 2050 to adapt to the impacts of global warming. Previous estimates put the figure at $70-100bn.

In Steiner’s time, UNEP’s tent has expanded, notably drawing in executives from HSBC and other banks to try and push for a new, sustainable financial system.

Under Solheim we can expect that to expand further. He sees business and the global markets as potential allies in the fight against the degradation of land and over exploitation of resources.

“People with a proper knowledge of the finance system, banking and insurance are more likely to advise us best on how we change the markets so we can see a rapid greening of the economy,” he says.

Norway’s minister for international development from 2005-2012, he is well versed in the perennial debate on climate and development finance flows.

During his tenure he helped set up a controversial UN market-based programme under which communities are paid to protect forests, a scheme known as REDD and deployed to mixed results.